S. Korea urges G-20 consensus on imbalances

EstherFung

WASHINGTON -(MarketWatch)- It is critical for the Group of 20 developed and industrial economies to reach consensus on the indicative guidelines used to measure global imbalances for the G20's future, South Korea's finance minister said Thursday.

"I'm not optimistic, however, I'm not pessimistic either," said the Minister of Strategy and Finance Yoon Jeung-hyun, who is in Washington D.C. for the International Monetary Fund and Group of 20 spring meetings. He added that South Korea feels it is important to reinforce the legitimacy of the G20.

He said he expects the G20 will get down to the agreement, but there could still be some difficulties due to differences among the members. G20 members should also show commitment to resolve commodity price volatility, Yoon told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

Regarding the IMF meetings, Yoon said he will raise the view that there are contradicting views from advanced and emerging economies. Emerging economies are focused on seeking concrete outcomes to reduce capital flow volatility, while advanced countries are more concerned on emerging economies' capital controls, Yoon said.

He added South Korea will propose developing broad principles that apply to both advanced and emerging economies such as macro prudential policies to curb highly volatile capital flows as well as a shift of focus to local currency debt from foreign currency debt.

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